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Obama to hail Romney's health care plan

President Obama promotes his health care plan Wednesday by praising the efforts of a former rival: Mitt Romney. Obama visits Boston, the home base of the Republican nominee he defeated in last year's election,

President Obama promotes his health care plan Wednesday by praising the efforts of a political rival: Mitt Romney.

The president visits Romney's home base of Boston for a speech in which he'll say that Obamacare is based largely on the health care plan that Romney installed as governor of Massachusetts, officials said.

"It really does serve as the blueprint for the Affordable Care Act," said David Simas, an Obama deputy senior adviser for communications and strategy.

Obama, who defeated Romney in last year's presidential election, is expected to say that, like Obamacare, the Massachusetts plan had early challenges but is now providing quality, affordable health care.

His speech will be at Boston's Faneuil Hall, the Revolutionary War-era meeting house where Romney signed the Massachusetts health care plan into law back in 2006.

The president is also expected to note that the Massachusetts plan has bipartisan support, which is not the case in Washington, D.C., with Obamacare.

Congressional Republicans who have called for repeal of Obamacare say it will lead to higher costs and poorer quality.

In recent days, Republican critics have focused on Americans who have had their existing policies canceled, and on a malfunctioning website that has not allowed some people to sign up for coverage.

"The failure of the Obamacare website is emblematic of the larger failure of Obamacare -- and of the kind of problems we can expect if Washington Democrats continue their stubborn defense of this partisan law," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Republicans have also questioned whether enough people will sign up to finance Obamacare. The deadline is March 31 to sign up without paying a penalty.

State officials from Massachusetts, speaking with reporters on a conference call organized by the White House, said their health care plan worked out well in the long run.

Jonathan Gruber, a former state official who now teaches economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said many citizens in his state waited for the deadline to sign up for coverage.